etiquette

Why I love “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding.” Hey TLC, We Want To Plan One! Call Us!

by

By now most people have heard about the raucous, Swarovski crystal-covered Gypsy wedding extravaganzas shown on TLC not just on their appointed night, but pretty much any time you turn on the TV.  Some people can’t take it, they have to turn it off. Others are fascinated, like they are watching a bad traffic accident and they can’t look away.  As for us, well, we want an invitation.

Weddings are full of joy in any community. Who’s to say they should be prim and proper? We lecture over and over again that brides should have the wedding they want, not what they see in the magazines or what’s “fashionable” just for the sake of it. Those magazines also say “be yourself!” and “It’s your day – make it what you want!” These families are realizing their vision, and it’s no one’s place to judge what they think is meaningful or beautiful.  We love these weddings (and the dresses, and the cakes, and all of what the conventional thinkers would call “over the top” details) for the energy and the feeling behind it. Here’s a community that’s marching to the beat of its own drum. And what a parade!

So TLC, we know you’re casting brides.  How ’bout letting some vendors in on the action?  We’ll hang a banner- My Little Gypsy Flower Shop. Have Swarovski, will travel.

Live well, and love well.

-Dinah

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

A Question Of Faith. When Should Religion Enter The Dating Picture?

by
Picture taken at at Masters of Lindy Hop and T...
Somewhere between dancing and the movies, it's good to touch base with someone you're dating about their thoughts on religion and its place in relationships. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So the Easter baskets are put away, and matzah munching will wrap up in a few days ( The Jewish holiday of Passover requires eating no leavened bread for a week, but substituting crackers called “matzah”). So issues of religion and faith are fresh in our minds.  Religion and romance sometimes create complicated situations.

Many people think that religion doesn’t matter when you’re “just dating.” But is that really true? After all isn’t the point of dating to find someone who you want to “get serious” with? And after serious come weekends away, meeting parents, and family holidays and all of a sudden there you are on a hill at sunset with a sparkler on your left hand.  Is after the ring hits your finger, but before you say “yes” the point you want to find out your darling dearest expects you to be baptized before your wedding day?

Changing religions, or becoming an atheist, is no small matter. Most faiths require classes, and individual and/or couples’ counseling. This is not changing your clothes, it’s changing who you are. Is that something you are prepared to ask of someone? Or to undertake yourself?

Perhaps it’s not actually when to talk about religion that needs rethinking, but what “dating” means, which after all is a much more complicated question.  So however you choose to resolve this important point get going on some meaningful communication between you and this person you’re starting to enjoy spending time with. Like with the relationship – start a conversation and see where it takes you.  Hopefully you’ll be headed to that hill at sunset, where you’ll have all the info you need to say “yes!”

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Now That’s What I Call A Wedding Crasher

by

You’ll see stories from time to time about a couple who had an unexpected guest show up at their wedding – but not in such a bad way. If your uninvited plus one or two is a celebrity, somehow that turns a nightmare into a crazy, fun wedding memory.  There’s a couple who had Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez come strolling down the beach into their tented reception, and then a lovely English couple who found the cast and crew of “The Iron Lady” attending their ceremony. (At least Meryl Streep is well raised – she brought a gift).

But by far, this weekend’s instance of a celeb turning up unexpected (though not uninvited) is one that will be tough to top. This couple invited Queen Elizabeth to their wedding as a bit of a lark, never expecting her to come.  Indeed, they received a polite decline.  But lo and behold, on wedding day, Her Majesty and Prince Philip dropped by to wish the couple well. Now that’s a crash to end all crashes! And such a cute hat, too.
funny wedding photos - Special Guests
see more Wedinator

Just goes to show, you’ve got to think outside the stationery box.  Want The Clintons at your wedding? Cher? Send the invitation. You never know who’s going to take you up on it.  But that also goes for people who get the “obligatory invitations” that you might rather not see.

The take-away: don’t send an invitation to people you can’t stand OR that are beyond your social circle thinking “they’ll never come” because they just might surprise you. Good advice all around, if it’s applied to Barry Manilow, or Uncle Eugene. You’re rolling the dice, and you might end up with a floorshow, but you’re also risking a monologue about the war years in Moldavia.

Be well, and love well!

Dinah

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta